The prevalence of carriers of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Copenhagen

Abstract number: P1429

Kjerulf A., Skov R.L., Forsberg C., Larsen T., Fiehn N-E.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to elucidate the frequency of MRSA carriage in patients receiving treatment at the School of Dentistry at University of Copenhagen in order to achieve a greater knowledge of the carrier state of MRSA in a population of children and adults in Copenhagen.

Methods: During a period of one year from 01.10.0601.10.07 1200 specimens from 600 patients were collected. A specimen from both nostrils and a specimen from both tonsils were taken from each patient, i.e. two specimens per patient. Each specimen was immediately plated on a 5% blood agar and inoculated into a nutrient selective broth. Both were incubated overnight at 37°C. At day two material from the broth was plated on a chrome agar plate and incubated overnight at 37°C. Susceptibility testing was performed at day three using a 10 mg cefoxitin disk (Oxoid, Basingstoke, UK) and semi-confluent growth on Iso-sensitest agar and incubated overnight at 37°C. Resistance was defined as 21 mm (SRGA). Cefoxitin resistant S. aureus were sent to the Staphylococcus Laboratory at Statens Serum Institut where further investigations including PCR for the mecA gene, spa typing and susceptibility testing were done.

Results: 518 adults 18 years with a mean age of 41.2 and a range of 18 to 91 years and 82 children 2 years with a mean age of 7.2 and a range of 2 to 16 years were included in the study. One child was positive for MRSA in the nose, the strain was a t022 spa type. The strain was additionally resistant to norfloxacin, but sensitive to erythromycin, tetracyclin, fusidic acid, rifampicin, streptomycin, kanamycin, linezolid and mupirocin. It was a healthy 13 year old boy born in Denmark of Danish parents. He had not been hospitalised in Denmark or abroad and he had not been travelling abroad for the last year. None of the adults were MRSA positive.

Conclusion: The prevalence of carriers of MRSA in Copenhagen seems to be very low and in this study only 0.2%. During the last year the number of patients with MRSA in Denmark has declined as a result of the implementation of national guidelines to prevent the disease from spreading in the hospitals and in the community.

Session Details

Date:

19/04/2008

Time:

00:00-00:00

Session name:

18th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases